TRENTON-- In a recent interview, local activist tells all about his recent bout with the New Jersey State Parole Board.
Daryl Brooks, a longtime Trenton political freedom fighter and now
member of the Tea Party who served a three and half year bid in prison
for flashing two minors (a crime he insists he did not commit), decided
to sit down for an in-depth interview last week.
During the interview, Brooks spoke out in a way that he hasn't done
before. The brash and outspoken political firebrand was in rare form
last week as he opened up about his longstanding fight against injustice
and persecution.
Since being released from prison, Brooks has sought to bring about
social and political change within his community. According to an Occupy
the Hood New Jersey blog, Brooks was the first person to run for U.S.
Senate from Trenton, New Jersey. Although his campaign proved
unsuccessful, he has coordinated numerous community organizing
activities to stop violence and bring different people together.
Despite his efforts, Brooks has experienced problems with the State
Parole Board and the public at large. In May, the Parole Board required
that he attend counseling sessions. In these sessions, Brooks reports
that he was required to admit guilt for a crime that he insists he did
not commit.
After not complying with their request, he was ordered to take a polygraph exam or lie detector test as a part of
the Parole Board’s Containment Approach
that monitors the activity of individuals that are on parole for sex
offenses. This test was required despite Brooks having had no parole
violations since being released from prison according to
Philadelphia Tribune reporter Linn Washington. Once he was given the lie detector test, Brooks reports that he was told by the Parole Board that he failed.
 |
| Brooks speaking at rally |
Brooks subsequently requested a copy of the results to determine why he
failed but was denied. The Parole Board confirmed this. When a parolee
fails a lie detector test, they can have stricter restrictions placed
upon them. The political activist questions the results and has voiced
concern over how the lie detector was administered. He has expressed
concerns involving the use and application of testing equipment, the
recording of information, and the polygraph examiner’s impartiality.
Research bears out what Brooks is saying. According to Polygraph
Specialist Joseph Buckley , the polygraph technique is highly accurate,
but at the same time, errors can and do occur.
Most errors happen when the examiner fails to prepare the subject
properly for the examination or by misreading the physiological data on
the polygraph charts. This makes it all the more important that the
examiner be properly trained. According to a State Parole Board
representative, parole officers can and do administer polygraph
examinations because they have gone through training and are required to
undergo recertification every two years.
Brooks and another parolee that spoke on the condition of anonymity both
question the accuracy of lie detectors. They wonder why the results of
these tests can be used to restrict an individual for Parole Board
purposes, but cannot be used in a court of law. Mother Jones journalist
Brendan Koerner confirmed this finding when he reported that polygraph
test results are generally inadmissible in court.
Through these issues with the lie detector test and by refusing to
comply with the Parole Board’s requirement that he admit guilt for a
crime he claims he did not commit, Brooks was now in violation of his
parole which meant jail-time. In a previous interview, Brooks said the
possibility of going back to prison was “terrible”.
Brooks went on to call his experience with the Parole Board an instance
of 'persecution' citing that it was unjust to have this happen to him,
because he has already served his time and he has had no parole
violations since being released.
 |
| Brooks in Mississippi with poor children |
Along with this travesty of justice, the political gadfly spoke out
about countless situations where he was spit on, threatened with
violence, and physically attacked by members of the Black community, a
community that he has consistently fought for over the years with his
protests and rallies. It came to a point where even his daughter was
threatened by others in his community. Indeed, the Trenton activist had
serious concerns that someone was going to kill him and that he was
going to have to maybe kill someone to defend himself or his family.
In the interview, Brooks describes how utterly disappointed he was in
the Black Community because of the way he was treated. He could not
understand why they hated him when he did so much to improve things in
the Black Community. It came to a point where the political activist
threw up his hands and said, “my own people are trying to destroy me”.
After this, it came to a point where 'enough became enough' for the political activist.
After years of fighting injustice, facing fierce opposition, and
wrestling with the possibility of going back to prison for something he
deemed to be unjust, Brooks says that the pressure became overwhelming
and he came to a fork in the road where he felt a life or death decision
needed to be made.
In the interview, the political malcontent said that the night before he
was arrested in May, he sat in his room all night staring at a bottle
of prescription pain pills that was lying around his house,
contemplating whether or not to take them. His intentions were to take
the pain pills as a way to end his misery and cut his life short. That
particular night, all sorts of thoughts ran through his head as he
glanced as that bottle of pills. However, something stopped him from
taking them.
Brooks says that the only thing that prevented him from taking his life
that night was listening to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s sermon
But, If Not,
a 1967 speech that highlights the importance of what King called civil
disobedience where one refuses to abide by an order of the government
because your conscience deems it unjust.
The political activist said that he had no worries that following
morning when he received a 7 o’clock call from parole because he knew
that he never “walked alone”, God was with him always. So that following
morning, Brooks buried those pain pills saying that he felt strong and
inspired, like Martin Luther King, Jr. before he was escorted to that
Birmingham Jail in 1963.
 |
| Brooks being interviewed for U.S. Senate |
Brooks went on to say that despite the persecution he is currently going
through, history is ultimately on the side of right and that justice
will eventually prevail. However, the political activist is still
concerned about the social implications of others going through a
similar ordeal with the Parole Board that he went through.
The Trenton born activist expressed concern regarding the Parole Board's
use of power. In the interview, he makes the case that the State Parole
Board is abusing its power whenever it administers a lie detector test,
but does not provide the parolee with a copy of the test results.
Brooks fears that the Parole Board may begin to require others that have
been convicted for non-sex offender related crimes take these same
sorts of tests and not be given a copy of the test results either. The
political firebrand thinks this could have damaging social effects as it
relates to one’s civil liberties.
Brooks says, "Are they [the Parole Board] testing this out for the next
line of individuals? This may start off with people with sex offense and
lead to people with regular crimes. This could be the start like when
we used drones in other countries, now that was a test, now let's see
what its like to use drones here in America. Now let’s do it [lie
detectors] with people that shoot people, drug dealers, people that do a
regular crime, let’s test it out on a group of people that people are
going to despise because they're not really human".
In general, this issue brings up questions about how we treat parolees.
Does society care about how people on parole are treated since they have
already served their time or does society think that it doesn't matter
how these individuals are treated because they committed crimes against
society? Are parolees being pushed around by the Parole Board or are
their rights being protected under the law?
By Anwar Salandy http://anwarsreflections.blogspot.com/
